The Art of Healing
by alwaysteatime
Summary: The year is 1957. Tessa and Magnus are living in New York after the war drove them out of Europe. Tessa is still mourning Will's death and Magnus is trying to help her heal. What better way to get someone's mind off of a tragedy than a trip around the world! (note: yes, I know, I suck at summaries)
1. Chapter 1

For the third night in a row, I woke up screaming. I'd like to imagine that it's a mystery what was waking me up. I'd like to imagine that this is the story of how I discovered a new evil in the world and conquered it. But it's not. This is the story of my life after Will died. After I left my family and after I left my friends.

Because Will was dead. He was never coming back. I still couldn't believe it. Will, my Will, was no longer with me. I don't think it's fully hit me yet. Sometimes I'm still surprised to wake up alone in bed. That's when it is at it's worst. Because I know he's gone.

So I scream until I feel better.

Magnus bursts into my room a little after I start screaming. He puts his arms around me as I sob into his shirt. We stay like that, him cradling me as I remember my past life, until the sun shines though the windows of our apartment building.

Finally, he speaks. "This has gone on long enough," He gets up and stretches in the sunlight. Sometimes I believe that not only are his eyes feline, but his habits are to. I doubt any normal human stretches as much as he does.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"The screaming. Your past life is over," he turns around and looks me straight in the eyes. "You chose to run away. You chose to leave them all behind," he walks toward my bed. "Unless, you want to go back now."

I fight the urge to slap the smirk off his face. "You know very well why I left. I already watched Will die. I couldn't bare to watch my children die too."

"The more you think about it, the harder it'll be to move on," he grabs me by the shoulders. "Your children will die. Your grandchildren will die. Your great-grandchildren will die. Everyone on this planet will die. We are some of the lucky few who don't have to."

"How are we lucky?!" I holler as I shake off his hands. I walk over to the window. We are back in New York, my home town. It changed a lot in the time I was gone. Carriages got replaced by cars and the dresses became much shorter. I wasn't able to enjoy the view in front of me. Not when I was stricken with dread and sadness. "How are lucky?" I repeat. "We only live forever in the fear of what might lie beyond. We could commit suicide at any moment and die as any normal persons will."

"You won't do it." he says. I can't see his face yet I can hear the smile in his tone.

"And now do you know that?" I asked defensively.

"One word, or rather, one name, " My heart drops because I know what he's going to say. "Jem. You would't leave Jem now would you?"

I scowl and turn to look at Magnus. "Of course not!"

"When did you last see him?"

"Three months ago."

Magnus smiles. "We'll then, we have 9 months."

"9 months?" I frown, "For what?"

"For a trip my dear Tessa," he stands up and walks out door. I'm frozen in shock. A trip? Now? What good would a trip do? I was back in my home, why should I leave? I look around my room. The room suddenly looked very barren. The white walls and the dark hardwood floors looked very picturesque, like something you would find in those modern living magazines. It didn't look very comforting though. It took me less than a moment to realize that this wasn't my home. My city had changed. I frowned and sat on my bed.

Magnus poked his head in. "Tessa, it's 1957. Time to get up and get a life," he threw a suitcase at me. When I say at me, I mean literally _at me_. I dodged not to get hit in the face. "Get packing Tess."


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you really need 3 suitcases?" I'm standing in Magnus' room which is currently littered with clothes.

He sets down the shoes he was examining and says "My dear Tessa, of course. How else am I going to fit all my clothes?" He looks down at his shoes again and frowns.

I roll my eyes. I was only bringing one suitcase and a bag since I don't really have many clothes. Magnus calls me old-fashioned since a woman wearing pants still looks strange to me. How he manages to adapt to the changing times so quickly will forever be a mystery.

I walk back to my room. It's seems even more empty than usual. My favorite scarf, a liberty printed now-antique from my youth, is draped over my bag. I instinctively touch the pearl bracelet on my wrist. It's a bittersweet reminder of what I used to have. Making sure Magnus isn't close by, I quickly open up my wardrobe. An array of dresses greets me. I run my fingers over the fabrics of the old dresses as I scan through for a specific color. My fingers land on a magnificent gold one

"Found you." I take out the dress and walk over the my mirror and hold it up to my body. I could still remember the day I wore it like it was yesterday.

_My wedding was beautiful. Sophie argued that even though she was no longer a maid, she would make my dress for me. Charlotte and Cecily promised to be at all my fittings even if I didn't want them there._

_"He is my brother," Cecily had said with a wink. "I must make sure this day is perfect for him too."_

_Will had looked stunning in his gold suit. I had to restrain myself from running over to him. All through the ceremony, I found myself for wishing for it to hurry up so that I could finally call Will my husband._

Footstep break up my flashback. I turn and Magnus' grim face greets me. "Oh Tessa."

I turn back to the mirror and notice the silent tears streaming down my face. I don't remember when I began to cry. Magnus walks up behind me and walks me away from the mirror. He takes my wedding dress out of my hands and lays it on the bed. With his large hands he cups my face and stares deep into my eyes.

"Miss Theresa Herondale Gray," there is a sharp pain in y chest when he says Herondale. "You are a strong woman and you will get over this."

I sulked. "I doubt it."

"You will. Remember what I told you in Paris all those years ago? The first one you love to die is the hardest. It gets easier after that."

"How though?"

He gives me a faint smile. "Time. There is no other remedy. But time is an allusion. It can go by as quickly or as slowly as you like."

"But what if I don't want time to pass?" My voice sounds like that of a five-year old.

"Then that is your own problem," he kisses me on the top of my head and continues. "You have too many things reminding you of the past. The past is over. I'm sorry, but you must step into the new age Tessa."

I glance over to my wedding dress. Finally, I'm sure of what was going to happen. I was going on the trip. I was going to get my mind off of everything that had happened. This was the last straw. When I had gotten so used to crying that I no longer realized when the tears started pouring out, there was a problem.

Finally, I spoke. "So, when are we leaving?"

Magnus smiled. "Whenever you want."

I glanced around my room. "Are you ready now?"

"Tessa, I'm ready and you are."

"I that case," I walked over to my suitcase and bag. "Let's get going."

And that was how Magnus and I found ourselves at Grand Central Station.

"Where are we even going?" I ask. It was so unlike me to agree to a large trip without inquiring where we were going.

Magnus smiles and asks "Where do you want to go?"

I look up at the time clock. There were so many trains going so many places. "I don't know."

"_Then it doesn't matter which way you go_."

I smirk. "Stop quoting Alice in Wonderland and tell me your plan."

Magnus chuckles. "I was thinking Los Angeles first and make out way east. Then, we'd travel Europe I guess. Maybe go to Africa."

"Africa?!" I ask outraged. When I imagined Africa, it was a barren land space full of savages.

Magnus raises an eyebrow at me. "Don't you want to follow in the footsteps of Howard Carter?"

I bit my lip. "The pyramids might be interesting..."

"Oh they are," said Magnus as he examined the time clock. "Gorgeous feats of engineering. I would have liked to take you to Asia but with Japan and Korea still recovering and China going communist, I don't think that area is very good to travel too. Plus, Russia is testing objects to put them into space."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I ask. Russia and America were already on bad terms but this new "space race" was ruining our relationship with them even more.

"Well," said Magnus as he finally looked away from the board. "We might get hit in the head with a lump of metal." Magnus winked at me. "Come on, there's a train departing soon." He held out his arm as gentlemen used to in the 1800s and earlier 1900s used to.

"An adventure." I said as I placed my arm on his and smiled. Together we walked toward the platform with the earliest train to Los Angeles.


End file.
